February 26, 2009

Is light skin still preferable to dark?

In many different cultures and countries around the world, skin color plays a huge role in the concept of beauty. Lighter skin is often preferable to darker skin. In “A Genomewide Association Study of Skin Pigmentation in a South Asian Population,” researchers looked at the genetic factors influencing skin color, or skin pigmentation, among Punjabis, Gujaratis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans. The study uses genetics to examine the many different shades of brown South Asians. It reinforced the idea that environmental factors as well as genetics strongly influence skin color. (When humans lived in Africa, everybody had dark skin. But as people migrated away from the equator, where the sun’s rays are the strongest, skin color lightened to help the body absorb ultraviolet light, which people need to synthesize vital Vitamin D.)

What was groundbreaking about the skin pigmentation research, published in 2007, was that it identified a new gene affecting skin pigmentation. Just a few genes, 10 or less, control skin pigmentation. But, for our purposes in this forum, I wondered: What if there was a way to manipulate the genes of embryos to ensure that a child has light skin? Would you do that? Is it too repulsive a consideration? Around the world, skin color still matters. A South Asian woman, who has a darker complexion, recently told me that her husband-to-be in what was supposed to be an arranged marriage was disappointed when he met her because he had wanted a lighter-skinned bride. (She wound up not marrying him.) In China, light skin often is preferred because it suggests that a person is of a certain socioeconomic class, and doesn’t have to labor in the fields under the harsh sun. In Brazil, a country where plastic surgery reigns, light skin is highly prized. I could go on and on, right? Consider this: During the presidential election, a lot of African-American women spoke openly about how happy they were that Michelle Obama is a “brown-skinned” black woman. Their hope was that, as First Lady, she would continue to raise the profile of brown skin and beauty. She’d be the face of, ‘Brown is beautiful.’ Many of these discussions came last summer as cosmetics giant L’Oreal was in the throes of a controversy over whether singer Beyonce’s skin had been made to appear lighter in hair color ads. One last thing: Growing up, I remember my aunts talking about family members in the South who intentionally married lighter-skinned people in hopes that their children would have fairer skin. Skin color was and remains a touchy subject, yes? Yes. Back to my original question: What if there was a way to manipulate the genes of embryos to ensure that a child has light skin? To be clear, this is not possible to do right now. But the technology may soon be available---especially since we now can look at the genetic makeup of an embryo and determine whether it has a disease like Cystic Fibrosis, Huntington’s and Tay-Sachs. This would be tougher to do with skin pigmentation but, let’s say it was possible. Should it be done? Does skin color still matter that much?

Photos: In 1972, singer Michael Jackson, who at 13 is the youngest member of the Jackson Five singing group, displays some of the cards and letters he receives from fans at his home in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Encino, Ca. (AP Photo)

I live in england and the area i live in, i have for the past 12 years. It is one of the most multi-cultured in britain and i never even think of the skin colour of people, i still find it interesting racism still exists in other places. I am white and so is my mother although my sister is half west-indian. I have never seen or heard anything i think is racist.I see and people of all races 'hanging out' and at the same time most of my friends are different colours. I never really notice until asked to describe someone or when reading an article such as this .
At the same time i believe political correctness is over the top in britain if i am discribing someone i would say if they are 'black' or 'white' and i would not consider that racist in the slightest. If everyone indervidual would just accept themselves for who they are, instead of wanting to change themselves, the world would have to change it opinion on race and skin colour.
On the otherhand some people ,like me admitedly, change they're hair and eye colour all the time and these things are seen as perfectly acceptable. Even though there are still risks associated with all of these things. What about when people tattoo all of there skin green or they eyes blue? Why is there not a major contriversy about these?

Does anybody know the name of they person who wrote the article? or e-mail address as i would like to site this article in my coursework?

I am not sure I understand the question. Is light skin still preferable to dark? Well, scientifically light skin is better if you live in the cloudy northern areas of the world and dark skin is better in the tropic zones.

Culturally, people tend to want to be what they are not. White people want to tan and darker skin tones want to be lighter. Personality I would hope that people could find the beauty in whatever skin tone God blessed them with. I can think of beautiful examples of all the skin tones.

Race and skin color is a very strange thing to me. I live in New Mexico where "White" People are actually a minority.But I usually don't pay atteniton to it (unless I notice they odnt' have anymore of my super light fair make up that I buy) most of the time.

Here... heritage is far more tellin than skin color. There are many people of hispanic descent here. I happen to be the lightest person in my family, my grandmother being half mexican herself. I am really really REALLY light too. I'm alergic to the sun and buy the second lighest shade of make up. I Don't even wear black because it drains what color I do have.

But at the same time I have dark brown hair and dark eyes. And while I look "White" I definitely identify more as being hispanic, that is how I was raised.

It is very annoying. Besides everyone's mixing anyway. This is healthy for the gene pool. Round here, many people look one way, but very much identify another way based on heritage ( I have a friend who's hispanic herself, but people think she's Native americna or even Fijian, lol).

Look! Some white people want to be black and some black people want to be white. Others like the way they are and don't want to change anything. If we all had the same colour, what variety would there be? God made animals, some lions, some birds and some fish. He made flowers, some roses, some daizy's and some lilies. Everything in this world has a variety. He made humans, some white, some black and others in between. Cant we all just get along? Just be the best YOU, you can be and stop compairing yourselves to others. No matter what you do, you will NEVER be me, or him, or her. Your soul and spirit will never leave you and enter into some one elses body and live their life for them. It has never happend and God will never allow it. So just be you and find peace within yourself!

Some parts of Africa get snow so I don't believe all Africans were originally dark skin.I wouldn't make my child light skin.I'll accept the color the baby is born with.I'm a light skin black. I am discriminated against because I'm a light skin black.In Philadelphia (blacks are the majority,ninth-poorest US city) many brown skin blacks and young adult dark skin blacks don't date light skin blacks.I lived in some cities that weren't like this. I had lived Philly for many years.In zipcodes in Philly that have many lecherous sex offenders many brown skin black men and dark skin black young adult men won't date a light skin black woman.There are few light skin black and brown or dark skin black couples in Philly.Often if a light skin black young adult does end up with a nonlight skin black they end up with a brown skin black.

Is light skin preferable to dark? It depends on who you ask. If you ask many White people who live in the U.S., they would probably say they prefer dark skin. Actually, Caucasians appear to be less satisfied with their skin color than other groups. Many risk getting skin cancer to obtain as dark a tan as they can get. Funny how Whites are given a free pass on this issue. They get a tan and NO one assumes they have issues with being White. Yet, we associate a desire to alter a Black person's hue to a lighter shade with wanting to be White. Do Blacks have a difficult time with being Black no matter what shade they are and they simply look for evidence of this in every little thing that they do?

White people have been able to reverse the thinking of many people on this planet and black people have fell for it to the point where they straighten their hair and lighten their skin. A lot of Asians fall into this trap. White/pale/albino people were and are still jealous of the black/brown skin type. People have been fooled in more ways than one. White god/Jesus, white Santa, white is good and black is bad. All lies and most will fall for it because most are ignorant of the truth. This is a black planet and Gods people are black. There was a time when only black people existed on this planet. What people call white are just very pale mutated black people. At one time on this planet white was associated with evil and death. If you were to open your eyes you will see that it is still means death. Every where the white man goes all that he brings is death and destruction. All the original gods of ancient times were black the blacker they were the more godly they were. Lack of melanin means death on this sun drenched planet. Open your eyes and wake up Educated white people know these things and keep it quiet as their scientist do their melanin research to find a way to synthesize what black people have naturally.

Is light skin still preferable to dark? Dark 'what'? Hmmm... so who's tasked to come up with this tripe? If this is what passes for what's news worthy in the new blogosphereic ridden journalism, it's no wonder people are stopping their subscriptions to newspapers faster than the DOW is falling. Talking about human beings like some drunken barista trying to move varieties of Caffè Mocha? So much for simple human decency. I pity the readers who eagerly 'swallow' this toxic waste having never known anything better.

I must admit that skin tones today are a major issue in our society. It may not be expressed as openly as before or maybe its just kept more on the dl, but that doesn’t meant that the problem is not around.
Also recently I studied in my Sociology class that the “agents of socialization” impact how we perceive the world or other people. The agents of socialization include our friends and family.”

We need to know about safe choices for skin whitening. Most products available contain carcinogenic ingredients and can cause skin burn during application. Vitamin B3, applied topically, is beneficial for reducing Acne, skin hyper-pigmentation (acne scars), increasing skin moisture and reducing fine wrinkles. Scientists at NY University College of Medicine have shown that Vitamin B3 is superior to antibiotics in controlling acne.

i think its also funny/shocking how it isn't just racially based. This is an issue that can even be considered intra-racial. I've even heard of instances where sisters get treated differently just because of the color of their skin. I must agree with "Reality" that Hollywood and ads DONT use skin tones equally..... There are more light skinned people on commercials than anything else. sure every once in a while you'll see a dark skinned person but it is not as often. Even in major roles for movies. Even the colors that are associated with the skin colors are judgemental in a sense. For example, when we think black we think bad, dirty, or stained. On the other hand, when we think white we think pure, clean, and good.

In my view, skin color has always been an issue.
We may be more discreet or more on the dl about it now, but it doesn't mean that it's not around. It is even portrayed in the media today.
People are also impacted on how they judge people based on their skin color by the way they were raised. In my sociology class they called the parents as "agents of socialization". They are a major impact on how one perceives the world and their morals.

I am of Italian American decent. My family is from southern Italy, as are most Italians in the Chicago area. I have dark almost black hair, and deep olive skin, and so does my entire family. The Italians here believe darker is better. The italians don't want someone with fair skin & hair.....we consider them "Northern"( Italians from Northern Italy, some have blond hair & blue eyes). Italian girls here want brown hair/eye and olive skin babies.

I have super light skin (referred to as alabaster by those who are kind - I've had doctors insist I must be anemic based solely on my paleness) & always hated it. I got horrible sunburns as a child because I went to the beach & stayed in the sun as long as my more normally hued cousins. (This was long before sun block.) When my daughters were little (pre-school age), they had a discussion (which I overheard) about how African American people looked so much more interesting because their skin had so many more undertones & variety in it (which is really correct if you think about it). And one was frustrated because she couldn't figure out how to get her teeth to look so beautifully white like Michael Jackson's (this was back in the mid-80's when he still was dark). Personally, I think all skin colors are beautiful & we should appreciate people as they are (including ourselves although I'm still working on liking my pale skin). Seal is great looking & so is Heidi Klum - each in their own way. And who can deny the attractiveness of the first family - with their varying hues.

When Obama was in the running for President, all we heard was 'race doesn't matter'; blah, blah, blah. Now that he is President, that's all we hear, ad nauseam, the 'upside of racial profiling'. No wonder space aliens only hover and do not land on this planet. No intelligent life on this rock.

Beyond the lightness and darkness of skin when considering social perceptions, there are also other elements which may be just as important if not even more so. Looking at President Obama, it's easy to see him not as an African-American but as a Caucasian with a deep tan. His facial features do not have the broad nose and heavy lips that are generally associated with 'blackness' in this country. Even more important, however, and I am convinced that it was a very significant contributor to his election victory, is his lack of a black accent. And I can remember in years past dealing with a person of almost purely African ancestry, so that he sported that almost purplish black skin that one sees in African natives, yet after only a few moments of dealing with him, the sense of his being black was virtually lost. Why? Because he had been born and raised in London and had come from a family with sufficient money to send him to a good school. As a result, he spoke with an upper class British accent. All this goes to point out that our assessment of people might begin with our awareness of skin color, but there are other elements that, as our contact with them continues, enter into our evaluations, even to the point of completely eliminating skin color as a factor contributing to our assessment of them. Anybody living in a large American city and thus having daily contact with African-Americans of many different backgrounds can tell how there is a great deal of difference between how we (if we are white) handle ourselves with a black person who shows all the social skills and mannerisms of a white person from an upper-middle-class background and those blacks who inhabit the streets of the poorest sections of the ghetto.

Which brings me to a very basic point: The differences that we discern among ourselves may begin with elements of physical appearance, but those elements are just that, only a beginning. It is further contact that enables us to more accurately identify just what kind of person we are encountering, elements such as accent, vocabulary, body language, clothing, and even the kinds of jokes they respond to. The need to have a human pecking order is one that is engraved in our genes, but the structure of that order is far more complex and nuanced and demands much more from us than a simple assessment of skin color can provide.

Actually many years ago tan wasn't considered healthy. The whiter the skin, the more beautiful the woman. In he early days of the US (i.e. during slavery and prior) and in Europe for many years prior to that, it was a distintion between royalty and commoners. If you had dark skin it meant you were outside working and must be lower class. Those people with light skin had people to do such labor for them. It's only been in relatively recent years that "tan" had become beautiful.

So now Tan is ok, but skin that's too dark is still "too black" and evokes the racist notions about black people and the silly concept that if you have darker skin you must be "more black", thereby embodying more of the negative stereotypes. If you notice, the most mainstream black celebrities are light skinned (i.e. Halle Berry). Very few leading men/women in Hollywood are very dark (Wesley Snipes stands out in my mind)

If President Obama was as dark as Wesley Snipes, would he be president? Probably not. Being half white his skin is very fair relatively speaking. It's still a huge step in race relations to have any president that's not an old white guy, but demonstrative of the issues we still have to work through.

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